We have the Queen's Speech on Tuesday. For the non-British; this is where the government announces the legislation that they propose for the next session of parliament. The the next session will be the last before the general election.

It's disconcerting how fast the tone in this country has changed recently for the worse. We've had a lot of it on simmer for a while now I guess, but it's been kept down. Now the Linda Snells have really boiled over.

As a final act, parliament passed the bill outlawing fox hunting - a bunch of deluded authoritarian crap dreamt up by people who probably drive out to the country and full expect to bump into the Famous Five. With a bit of luck it will kill the governments support in rural areas. With a lot more luck they won't switch to Tory.

Now MPs have decided to turn their attention to overeating, smoking and drinking. All pleasures that MPs have famously overindulged in. Drinking will be linked with a large number of `law and order' bills no doubt. Overeating will probably come in the guise of a ban on advertising (some) foods.

Nothing stirs people up like fear and Labour are running short on it. That's what the Queens speech is going to do. Fear of crime, fear of terror, a little fear for everybody and One Government to save them all. I expect Blunkett will be jerking off listening to it. (And that's something else that will probably be in - ID cards).

And, frankly, there's no chance of stopping any of it. The Conservatives are hopeless and couldn't put up an opposition even if they disagreed with it. The Lib Dems aren't strong enough to even slow it down.